Ilajan is a duo of sisters who build their music out of silence, understatement, and careful listening to emotions. Moving at the intersection of pop, folk, and ambient, they create a soundscape full of soft guitars, subtle vocal harmonies, and delicate synthesizer textures—a world that invites contemplation rather than demands attention. Their songs grow out of imagined memories, inner landscapes, and “inhabited” pauses, and their inspirations range from artists who can speak directly to the listener’s sensibilities: from Agnes Obel and Keaton Henson to Aurora and November Ultra. After the well-received EP Villes de Papier and a series of concerts in Switzerland, Ilajan released their debut album Les Ronces – an album created in the home spaces of Geneva, Porrentruy, and Berlin, marked by the tension between strength and fragility, light and shadow. In conversation, they talk about the long maturation of their joint project, the need to experiment, the intimacy of creation, and why sensitivity can be one of the quietest but also most enduring forms of resistance.
Artur Mieczkowski
Artur Mieczkowski: Your project is the result of close collaboration—two sisters, different roles: one writes lyrics and sings, the other plays guitar and sings backing vocals. How did this partnership come about, and when did you feel that you wanted to make music together?
Ilajan: I always loved singing, and Indiana started to play the guitar when she was very young. We have quite an important age difference (7 years), we used to play covers together in our free time at home just for fun, we dreamed about being musicians but never dared to think we should actually try. I left the family home for my studies when Indiana was only 13, and its only almost ten years later that we decided to give it a serious shot. We were wondering the other day, if we regretted not to have started earlier, I think the truth is we also new quite exactly where we wanted to go and had the ability to bring our vision to life because we waited so long. It actually had been slowly simmering for years.
A.M.: Ilajan’s description mentions exploring the boundaries between pop, folk, and ambient music. What does crossing these boundaries mean to you, and why this particular hybrid of aesthetics?
I: It means taking references in our favorite genres to make our own brew. It also makes folk and ambient that can be quite purist more accessible. In any case, we never decided on a specific genre before starting, it is what naturally came to us by trying to do soothing music.
A.M.: You are inspired by artists such as Keaton Henson, Aurora, Agnes Obel, and November Ultra. What connects you to this music, especially in terms of atmosphere, emotions, and approach to sound?
I: These are all artists that we feel speak directly to the soul, that allow for contemplation, for processing the listeners own emotions, particularly the melancholic ones such as sadness, heartbreak, grief etc… They offer worlds in which listeners can allow themselves to feel vulnerable.
A.M.: Your debut EP, Villes de Papier, was released in 2023, and even then it promised a subtle, dreamlike world. What surprised you most when you started performing this material publicly during concerts?
I: The respect with which we are always met. We always heard about young artists being met by noisy, rude crowds, and that has never happened to us, it is always astonishing how calm the room becomes. It is also very surprising to learn how much people are actually deeply moved by our music. It is obviously what we aim for and the purpose of all music but it is always crazy to see that it actually works – we are just overall super grateful.
A.M.: Between the EP and your upcoming (it is out now) debut album, there has been a natural evolution in your sound. How did you choose the themes and sounds for the new material to reflect what has changed in you over the years?
I: I think we were more open to experimentation in the process. The first EP, was much more based on me: my memories and emotions. Whereas for the album we tried to work in a more collaborative way with my sister in composition, and also with Sam Jaccard who plays synths with us on stage since always and helps pre-produce. In terms of references, we also tried to get out of our comfort zone, to introduce a few unexpected moments. In Daphne, we go towards noise by the end, in snooze song, rock, in serenade, trap, derrière les murs, a more cinematic atmosphere. The challenge was to get out of our comfort zone by always staying true to our style and identity.
A.M.: The album Les Ronces was recorded in various locations—between Geneva, Porrentruy, and Berlin, often in a home setting or small studios. How did this space and its scale influence you during the creative process?
I: I think it’s easier to be vulnerable and try new things in homely places. It is also easier when you have time, for instance if you are not renting a studio by the hour. This is what helped us take the time to experiment and open our sound.
A.M.: The description of the album Les Ronces refers to the tension between strength and fragility, between shadow and light. Do you treat this opposition as an artistic path—and do you feel that it reflects your inner experiences?
I: Yes, very much. Like most humans, we’re full of contradictions and inner dilemmas, and rather than trying to resolve them, we see them as a place to live and create from. Strength and fragility are intertwined for us; what appears strong often grows out of vulnerability, and what feels fragile can be a quiet form of resistance. This album reflects that inner landscape: the pull between moving forward and stopping, speaking and staying silent, light and shadow. Dawn in particular is about accepting our shadows. Letting darkness, rest, and the unfinished exist without guilt, and recognising them as necessary parts of who we are.
A.M.: Ilajan’s music is often inspired by “imaginary memories, inner landscapes, and inhabited silence” – how do these images come about for you? Does music arise from words, emotions, landscapes – or is it always a mixture of these elements?
I: Our music always comes from an emotion, what a memory makes us feel. Through the song, we don’t describe the memory but we rather try to convey the atmosphere of that lived moment. There are a few exceptions, in Les Ronces we speak directly about anger, it is based on a poem by the french poetess Cécile Coulon. In Daphne, we speak about consent through the myth of Daphne, where mother earth transforms her into a tree to save her from Apollo.
A.M.: How important is independence to you—in sound, recordings, concept—in a world dominated by rapid music consumption and pressure for “simple messages”? Has the process of creating Ilajan changed anything in your perception of reality—your sensitivity to everyday life, your understanding of emotions, your relationships with people, nature, silence?
I: Independence is of utmost importance for me, we are lucky to work with a label that leaves us total freedom, and apart from booking we do everything ourselves, management, visuals, costumes, communication etc. It is hard in ways because it is a lot, but it also leaves me fully in charge of the direction of the project. Ilajan seems to be built as an opposition to trends of fast, upbeat music and simple messages; Our lyrics are often quite open to interpretation through use of metaphors and poetic processes, the music is slow. What I search to create through Ilajan is probably what I lack in the world: calm, softness and space for vulnerability.
A.M.: Looking ahead, what are your dreams and plans? Do you see Ilajan still around in a few years? How would you like your music to evolve?
I: For dreams, the first thing that comes to mind is to be able to work with an orchestra and a choir for a few special concerts, that would come with acquiring a bigger fanbase. We have been quite lucky for a band that came out of nowhere not so long ago, but we stay quite very niche for the moment. We would love to be able to play bigger shows, and to travel to meet different crowds.
We definitely want Ilajan to stay around for as long as we can.
A.M.: Thank you very much for the interview. I wish you the best of luck with your plans.
I: Thank you so much for your review, kind interest and time. It is such an honor for us to make our music travel internationally and we are glad if it can land in the ears and hearts of polish listeners!